


The Love We Found

by lunaseemoony



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Fireplaces, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Smut, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 08:48:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5533322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaseemoony/pseuds/lunaseemoony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Christmastime comes around it brings with it changes in the Doctor and Rose's relationship. The stakes are raised to find the perfect gift for one another to give themselves the courage to tell one another how they feel. With a bit of encouragement they realize that finding that perfect gift is a lot simpler than they thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Love We Found

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> This is my Secret Santa gift for the dear DirtyBrian/[kevinkillgrave](http://kevinkillgrave.tumblr.com). I hope you like it! And a thanks to [thereisnothingwrongwithbeingmad](http://thereisnothingwrongwithbeingmad.tumblr.com) for a bit of inspiration.

There was nothing subtle or gentle about the way Jack shoved Rose out of the TARDIS doors. The last she heard of him before they slammed shut was his patented less-than-innocent cackle. Rose felt their destination before she saw it, a sharp wind whipped at her exposed skin. She turned on the heels of her fluffy snow boots and pounded on the doors. But they wouldn’t yield. The sly fox was barring the door.

 

“ _What do you give a bloke that’s already got everything, Jack? Christmas is in two days and I’ve still got nothing!”_

“ _I think you’re both making this a lot harder for yourself than it needs to be, Rosie.”_

“ _Both? What do you mean both?”_

 

Rose turned around and breathed in a peaceful chill. The silence gripped her as she soaked in the vast carpet of untouched snow and its mountainous backdrop. At the end of a cobblestone path was a tiny cottage, and behind it a pale coral sunset in a gray sky freckled with snowfall. The warmth of the little lanterns hanging out front warmed the fluttering heart in her chest. She felt almost overtaken by the feeling of safety that traveled on whistling winds here. She had no idea where they were. And for once she didn’t care to ask. She was right here, happily taking the Doctor’s outstretched hand to wrap up in both of hers. Her gaze was met with his wide, beaming smile. It did little to calm the butterflies in her chest.

 

“ _I mean you’re both looking for a ‘thing,’ which, given what I know, is completely unnecessary.”_

“ _Well then what do_ you _suggest, smarty pants?_ _”_

 

The Doctor offered his arm with a, “Shall we?” He looked giddy, which wasn’t entirely a rare sight. But when it was for her company, Rose couldn’t help but let her cheeks flush. It was so much like their first Christmas, stepping out onto a snowy landscape with a gentleman on her arm. She was even once again wearing a flattering dress. Only this time the cloak it came with wasn’t flashy as much as it was fluffy (which was good, since it was freezing). And this time it was her nerves working at her balance rather than excitement. She leaned in to him, feeling his gait rigid with confidence. The snow falling on her exposed chest and arms then felt that much colder as curiosity warmed her blood. Her heart drummed harder and harder in her chest the nearer they got to the little cottage.

“You’ll want to watch your step on these, there’s -”

Ice. His warning came on time. Rose was simply too wrapped up in anticipation to hear it. Rose’s foot landed on the second step but slipped, sending her falling forward before she could brace herself on the railing. Her shoulder hit the railing before she crashed onto the iced wooden steps. Before she knew up from down, the impact knocked the wind and every little daydream right out of her.

 

“ _Why is this one gift so important?”_

“ _It’s been… different lately. Between him and me. And I don’t want… I thought maybe if I got him something nice we could…” She’d clawed her mug of tea as though she could crush it. “You know…”_

 

“Rose!”

The Doctor hauling her up, the pair of them lumbering inside, him sitting her down in front of the fire all passed in a dizzy, aching blur. Rose leaned up against a chair and squeezed her eyes shut while her head spun and throbbed. Her hand fell to her stomach, clutching it and willing it to behave as she waited for the initial bout of shock to wear off.

“You’re all right, Rose. It’s okay,” the Doctor promised as he slid down to the floor next to her, steadying her hand in his. She didn’t realize they were trembling them until he coiled his fingers around her hands tightly. “How about a doctor takes a look, hm?”

 

“ _I told you about my dad, yeah?” Jack nodded and Rose gulped down the last few sips of then lukewarm tea. “The Doctor was… I thought he’d be so cross, even if I did say ‘sorry.’ But when we got back on the TARDIS he stayed with me. Sat on the couch and cuddled with me, all night. Soaked his jumper to the bone with tears, and he never spoke a word of what I’d done. He promised me he’d be there for me. Being in his arms like that, it just felt so_ right. _”_

 

“My shoulder,” Rose hissed.

“May I?”

The Doctor moved in front of Rose, and his expression cleared like clouds after a storm, opening up to a soft smile. Was that a hint of worry on his face? He’d never been worried before. Not when their lives weren’t at risk, at least. Then again, she wouldn’t be all dolled up if she hadn’t thought things were shifting between them. He brushed back her hair from her face and melted the snow off her cheek beneath his palm. She hissed when his fingers dabbed at her skin. He schooled his expression, but a slight twinge still tugged at his brow and mouth.

“My makeup’s got to be running,” Rose blurted.

“You look _beautiful_ ,” the Doctor asserted, the fire light flickering in his eyes.

“For a human.”

He shook his head. “For anyone. Beautiful.” He paused, and a pop sounded in the fireplace. “That’ll be a nice little bruise later. Nothing that can’t be fixed on the TARDIS.”

Between the chill on one side of her face and the warmth of the fire on the other Rose felt her cheeks ripening. Her chest heaved at the sight of the Doctor’s hands shifting to the tie of her cloak. His touch was lighter now, fingers ghosting across her chest as they moved to her collarbone. But not quite light enough. Rose winced when he touched her shoulder. Of course _then_ she felt it throbbing with pain.

“Ow! Be gentle!”

He chuffed at her. “I don’t have to help, you know. We could go back.”

“No!” She raised her hands to stop him from getting up (jokingly, she hoped), and cried out in pain.

“Really hit it hard, didn’t you?” She nodded. “Does it hurt anywhere else?”

She broke from his gaze, not even conscious of her hand protecting her rib. “It’s not broken or anything. Just hurts.”

The Doctor looked her up and down coldly. “If you were wearing a shirt this would be much simpler.”

“I wanted to look nice.”

 

“ _Don’t you think this is a bit cocky, the message this dress sends?” Rose turned her nose up at the green showy dress with a big bow on the front that Jack plucked from deep within her wardrobe._

“ _I think it sends a message of ‘Hey, Doctor, this girl’s available. This time,_ really _available. Try it on! You_ _’ll look_ gorgeous _in it. That I can promise._ _”_

“ _And this giant bow on the front? What’s that supposed to say? ‘Hey Doctor, Merry Christmas?’ Like I’m supposed to give_ myself _as a gift?_ _” She scoffed from inside the en suite as she stepped into the dress._

_He didn_ _’t answer until she returned, beaming at her with pride. “Oh Rose. Have faith! We’ve known each other for what, few months now? Cut me some slack will ya?” He winked at her and placed his hands on her bare shoulders. “The dress is a gift to yourself,” he whispered as he herded her over to her mirror. “Now, take a look at yourself in this and tell me what you see.”_

_The first time the Doctor sent her to the main wardrobe she_ _’d felt like a little girl putting on her mum’s clothes. Even when he said she was beautiful it felt more like a dream, maybe that he was being nice to the new kid. She didn’t think much on it then. Who would, with 1869 waiting for them on the other side of the TARDIS’s front doors? Money aside, even a year ago Rose would never have imagined herself in a satin dress. Not only that, but it was bold, a deep, Christmas green cocktail dress that showed off her legs (an asset she was actually proud of). Jack stood behind her and tightened the ribbon making up the bow. It brought out cleavage she didn’t know she had. He brought over the cloak that came with it, a fluffy white number, and draped it over her shoulders to complete the ensemble. She had one answer for him._

 

The Doctor brought his lips to her forehead as he undid the bow of her dress so he could unzip it. This was not how she envisioned events proceeding. Plans were becoming a foreign notion with the Doctor. Still, desire gathered up deep within as he unzipped the dress. The pair of them knew that it might have been slightly unnecessary. He could make an assessment without taking it off. But why turn up the opportunity? Gooseflesh rushed across her body as his cold hand found her back. Rose shivered under his touch, but braced herself when his thumb brushed her ribs. She chewed her lip and swallowed a wince. This was by far not the worst injury she’d earned from her travels, but the wound to her pride had a strange way of bringing on more pain.

“Oh, you’re a bit angry already, aren’t you?” he spoke to her ribs. “Could be worse. All we need here is a bit of ice and you’ll be right as rain.”

“Last thing I wanna hear right now is the word ‘ice,’” she groused.

“Fair enough,” he chuckled. “How about this then?”

The Doctor rubbed his hands together and scooted around behind her. He whispered for her to take off her dress the rest of the way, and helped her stay balanced as she shimmied out of it before settling back on the floor. A moment later his jacket landed on the couch, and she heard fabric rustling behind her. Rose imagined the Doctor rolling up his navy jumper sleeves. So she was pleasantly surprised when his bare chest met her back. Rose gasped when he brought his hand back to her ribs. It was cold. Not cool, but cold. Cold, and soothing and perfect. She gave thanks with a sigh of relief that became a purr when he gently rested his face on her shoulder.

“I can’t do this for very long. But it’ll do until we make our way back,” he whispered.

Rose had no desire to move now, and not just because she was aching from head to toe. She felt peace slowly trickling back in with his even puffs of chilled breaths; the fire hissing and crackling for them; and the sight of an enormous Christmas tree tucked away in the corner nearby casting colored lights on the wooden floor. She just wished then that her own niggling worries didn’t get in the way.

“Really mucked things up this time, I think.”

He pressed a kiss to her shoulder. His soft lips might have cooled her skin, but they sent heat rushing to her face and between her legs. Thoughts of those lips elsewhere briefly invaded her thoughts. “You could never, Rose. Besides, that would imply we had a plan.” She felt his head turning slightly to admire the tree with her. “Looks like somebody else did though. Not very subtle, those ornaments.”

“Might be why he insisted I take a long bath, the sneak. The hearts are a nice touch, I’ll give him that. It’s like Valentines at Christmas.” She paused and sighed. “I don’t have a gift for you.”

“That makes the two of us then. I think that was the idea with this. I like this, don’t you? What could go wrong already has. So now it’s just you, me, and this cozy little cabin. We’ve got each other.”

“Like last night?”

“I told you you’d like them, didn’t I?”

He’d been completely scandalized when he found out she hadn’t seen The Year Without a Santa Claus nor The Muppet Christmas Carol. They sat side by side on the couch and watched the former first. Rose giggled as the Doctor acted out some of the parts, gesturing and singing along. It was a pleasantly new side to him. She ought to get him to celebrate holidays with her more often if it meant hearing him sing songs like “The Snow Miser” while trotting around the room like the little clay figures on the telly.

Before he even let her watch it he went nattering on about how it was among the closest adaptations to Dickens’ original Christmas Carol, despite featuring furry little puppets. She couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not. But in the end it didn’t matter. Rose watched the film, yes. But she was far more absorbed in the Doctor. He’d brought her into a tight cuddle. It came in handy in the middle of the film when “When Love is Gone” came on like a sudden storm. It struck her hard. Rose _was_ Belle in a small sense. Her song crushed her, turned her into a sniveling, sobbing mess in the Doctor’s arms. He had no words for her then. He told her what he was thinking with a kiss instead. She returned it in the middle of his apology for it. She kissed him again at the end when the reprisal of the song that broke her heart made it sing. _He_ made her heart sing. The feeling overwhelmed her.

“The films were nice, yeah. But,” Rose’s face flushed anew. “Liked something else a lot more.”

 

“ _I see a pretty dress.”_

“ _Oh come on. Work with me here, Rosie.”_

“ _Well it brings out my legs.” She cleared her throat. “And the girls. That’s nice.”_

“ _Okay, but how does it make you_ feel _?_ _”_

_Rose thought about the way the Doctor looked at her. He_ _’d called her a stupid ape, sure. But that was when he was cross. Other times he referred to her as a teenager. Certainly looked at her like was one at times. Even if she hated it she couldn’t fault him when he was 900 years old. She’d always been fond of him, but when Mickey was out of the picture she began to wonder. She’d thought the Doctor would never be interested until their kiss, only hours before she found herself in this dress in front of the mirror. She could still taste him on her lips, mild and soft with a little bite to him; like tea and lemon. She wanted more. So much more._

“ _It makes me feel like a woman.”_

 

“Rose,” the Doctor murmured into her neck.

His lips were warm on her skin again. Well, warmer. He was always like a cool rain on her summer day. The glow of the fire dimly lit the cozy room, casting dancing shadows on its log walls and wafting heat their way. Although Rose was generating enough of her own, and leaned up against the Doctor. His chest was smooth and cool on her back. As his legs hugged hers she began to wonder what they were like beneath those trousers of his. His hands moved to wrapping around her stomach. Her breaths quivered with anticipation. She fought the urge to ask him where they were going, and turned her head to find his eyes for a clue. The moment she spot his crisp blue eyes he stole her lips for a languid kiss. Rose moaned against his mouth as it opened up to her, bringing the taste and coolness of mint with it. His fingers slowly slid down her stomach and ghosted over the satin of her knickers before clutching her thighs. She was beginning to relish mapping him, his tongue gliding along hers, when she felt a sharp twinge in her neck and gasped.

“Take it easy,” he chuckled.

“It’s my shoulder,” Rose grumbled.

“I know.”

The Doctor shifted behind Rose, and she was flooded with a rush of pride when a bulge pressed into the small of her back. Now she well and truly wanted those trousers off. It was all enough to distract her from her nerves. She still had something to do. But the Doctor didn’t appear to be in any rush, leaning in to pepper her shoulders with little kisses before cupping the nape of her neck in his lips. When he brushed his tongue there all of her work putting up her hair was instantly worth it. His fingers were talons on her thighs and she wondered if he was hesitating. They were moving so fast, but it felt so _right_ , particularly imagining him parting her thighs and moving between them. She wanted to tell him it was okay, even that since he’d cuddled with her in bed last night that she’d been thinking about it. Instead she let the fire enchant her as the Doctor made her skin sizzle and nerves dance under his caresses.

She stiffened when his hands found the clasp to her bra, but whispered her okay. In a few beats it was his hands cupping her breasts in place of her bra, and she knew it was the Doctor making her blush more than the fire. She let her head fall to his shoulder as his lips moved to mark hers. It wasn’t unlike the shiny metal one nestled between her breasts, but this one felt a _lot_ nicer. Her sigh of his name earned her more kisses as he coiled his neck around hers and nibbled her collarbone. She melted beneath every touch. Rose shut her eyes, letting twinkling lights fade to images of what might come in the next few minutes.

He answered it by gently parting her legs. If his hearing was as superior as he’d claimed he could hear her heart stampeding. Maybe he could feel it in her pulse beneath his lips. Want pooled low in her abdomen. And judging by his fingers dancing along satin he wanted her too. She gasped when they ducked underneath and brushed her mons before dipping between her lips. Suddenly it was all too real.

“I’ve got to tell you something!” Rose blurted out.

 

“ _And it’s nice. But, if it’s a gift for myself I’m still back to square one.” She plopped herself on her bed and steeled herself. “I need something that’ll tell him how I feel.”_

“ _Or you could just, you know.” Jack rolled his eyes. “Say it.”_

_She shook her head and the daydreams filling it._ _“You don’t understand. I’ve got to do this right. I don’t want to wait any longer, but I can’t just say it out of the blue. Not with the Doctor. He’s… he’s different.” She fell back and looked up at the vaulted coral ceiling of her bedroom. “I don’t wanna lose this, or him. I don’t wanna muck it up. But how am I supposed to compare to hundreds of years of seeing the universe? It’s impossible.”_

“ _He said something similar about you, you know.”_

“ _I’m not 900 years old.”_

“ _No, but you are the woman that he -”_

_Rose shot up._

“ _You know what you two need? You need to get away from this ship and all this danger. You worry too much. You need room to breathe, so you both can see things clearly.”_

 

“Tell me.”

“I…” Rose stammered before shoring herself up with couple of deep breaths. “I know you promised you’d bring me home safe. But… I want to stay with you Doctor. I can make my own choices, and I want home to be with you.”

She paused for a hot gasp when he pressed his thumb to her clit. Her confession did nothing to slow him down. If anything it seemed to spur him on. His fingers mapped her sex before one slowly found its way into her heat. She ground her hips against his hand and moaned. God, it had been far too long.

“I’m in love with you,” he whispered into her ear, sending shivers rumbling like thunder down her back.

“Yes!”she cried out, and hoped the tears streaking her cheeks would clue him in to which she was shouting for most. It took her a few shaky breaths to reply in earnest. “I love you.”

“Sweetest words I’ve heard in years.”

“Yeah?”

She felt his eyes fluttering closed against her temple as he groaned and bucked against her bum. “Right after ‘there’s me.’”

“You don’t…” she paused to sigh and rock her hips with his pumping finger. He hissed when she clenched around him. “You’re not alone.”

“Couldn’t have ever asked for anyone better to not be alone with, Rose Tyler.”

“I need you,” she bleated.

For once he didn’t tease her. The sound of a zipper filled Rose’s ears. She didn’t hide the glee and lust welling up to her smile. She was already dancing on the edge, for him; a sensation she’d thought all but lost. She could almost feel herself unraveling around him, with him, as he stepped out of his trousers behind her. He was unabashed sitting in front of her with the light of the fire setting him aglow. He never looked more gorgeous than when he pridefully laid himself bare to her; from his pale eyes, to his sculpted muscles, down to his manhood throbbing and waiting just for her.

“Come here.”

Rose stood up and bent over to slide her now damp knickers down her legs. But a spike of pain hit her ribs went she leaned down, making her yip. “Help me?”

The Doctor wrapped an arm around her waist and raked her in close. He slid her green knickers down with a wide grin plastered to his face and held her up as she stepped out of them. He nuzzled the little chestnut patch marking her sex before bringing her down to his lap, his erection trapped between them. She moved to wrap her warms around his neck, but her shoulder wouldn’t allow it. So she settled for one arm, and the Doctor wrapped his around her back tight with a breathy chuckle.

“Take it easy, I said.

“Easy for you to say. I feel like you keep taking care of me. And you don’t have to.”

He kissed away the rest of her words, which were immediately forgotten on his lips, on his chest pressed against hers and his cock digging into her belly. She sucked his lip into her mouth, and drank in his groan.

“I want to,” he muttered into her chest. “It’s my turn. You’ve done enough for little old me. Nothing wrong with letting a man dote on his Rose every now and again now is there? All right, fairly often as of late. Besides, I’d be daft if I didn’t want to help you out of those pesky knickers of yours.” Rose giggled before his mouth moved south to kiss the swell of her breast. “Let me do this.”

“You’re in for it when these heal. I’m only warning you,” she teased.

He didn’t answer straight away, as he’d trapped her breast in his mouth, and teased the nipple with a flick of his tongue until the flesh yielded to him. “I’m holding you to that,” he hummed after releasing her breast with a pop of his lips. Before she could speak he’d moved on the other side.

She pulled him from his seductions with a moan of his name and a gentle rock of her hips against his. So many thoughts had been flurrying in her mind since she’d woken up with him in her bed. The memory of his hips writhing with her bum in his sleepy stupor had been frequenting her daydreams and exciting her nerves for hours on end. Recognizing his radiant smile as love for her was a gift in itself. So when he offered it to her again as he grasped her hips she returned it full force, with a bout of quivering giggles to go with it, making him grin that much wider.

“We _are_ ridiculous,” she said.

“I happen to enjoy our ridiculousness.” His chest puffed up before he kissed her, and poised her above his waiting erection. “I _love_ it.”

This was as good a cue as ever to cease their discussion. The Doctor’s smile turned just slightly wicked at her growing blush. She shut her eyes and buried her head in his neck. He lowered her hips slowly until they both swore. Rose met him the rest of the way, and gasped when heat and pleasure overtook her. Rose wrapped her legs tightly around him, digging her heels into his arse. It was all she could do to not give in just at the Doctor filling her. He was wonderfully unrelenting in his caresses as she adjusted to his girth, teasing at a newly discovered sweet spot beneath her ear with his teeth.

“Look at me, Doctor,” she demanded.

His pale eyes darkened with lust, and coaxed a deep breath from her chest. If she didn’t have to hold on to keep her balance as he began to move she’d have brought her hand to the arousal ripening his face. He was stunning, and hers to keep. And maybe he didn’t know why this made her smile so much, but he snogged the air from her lungs at the sentiment all the same. Every inch of him was hers, she thought, as his body glided with hers. His fingers dug a furrow in her bum, and she only blushed harder at wondering if there’d be a bruise there as well later. Pleasure coiled tighter and tighter each time their hips met, so she nearly came undone with his moan of her name.

Heavy-lidded eyes caught her gaze. “I won’t last, Rose.”

“That’s okay. Come for me, Doctor.”

This ignited something within the Doctor, and elicited a delicious growl from deep in his throat straight onto her lips. The only thing gentle about what he did next was laying her carefully on the floor and hiking up her thighs. When he plunged back inside he met wet flesh. The sound flooded her ears, overwhelming the peaceful crackling of the fire next to them. Arousal overtook every sense, burying the scent of pine and wood beneath the heady aroma of sex as the Doctor thrust deep inside her. Just the way he looked at her then, with wide eyes and a heaving chest made her own heart race and pound on her ribs. As he thrust faster he stopped muttering and swearing in English but a deep, lyrical brogue combined with her name breathed into her ear. Determined to not leave her behind, he reached between them to capture her clit between his fingers. Rose then finally came undone, quietly writhing beneath him he set her every nerve ending ablaze. She had just enough energy to urge him on, building up tension until he released it all in one powerful thrust with a strangled cry as he collapsed on top of her.

“Careful, my ribs,” she winced with a chuckle.

The Doctor rolled off Rose and brought her into a cuddle beneath the Christmas tree. Red, green and blue lights twinkled in his eyes as she peered out the window into the night. They were getting snowed in, and Rose pursed her lips in delight at the thought. They weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. When she rested her head on his slick chest his hearts thumped wildly at her ear, and her heart swelled with pride.

“I love you,” Rose bleated and kissed the spot between his hearts.

He returned her love and added, “Merry Christmas.”

“I was going to bake you banana bread,” she confessed. “But my first try got… it wasn’t edible.”

The Doctor snorted and laughed, hugging her closer as she hiked a leg across his. “I was going to get you a locket for that key.”

She cooed. “Oh, I’d have loved that.”

“I’d have loved anything you made.”

She let her head fall to his chest in defeat and laughed with him. “This was better. You make a much better gift. Should have thought of it earlier.”

“Dunno, I quite like mine.” He kissed her hair. “You’re the gift that keeps giving, Rose Tyler.”

“Always.”

Those were the last words they spoke before falling into a deep slumber snuggled up in one another’s arms warmed by the fire and a sense of completion. They had indeed been going about their second Christmas all wrong. All the same, the following year he did give her a locket, and she did bake him banana bread. And of course they loved it. But they both always agreed it was tough to beat the gifts that kept on giving.

 


End file.
